Challenges not Based on Steps, eg. Sports, Stairs, Active Mins

[Lianne393]

It would be nice to have different types of challenges that aren't solely based on getting our steps in. 

For instance, the number of active minutes in a day, loss challenge, calories, water consumption. Some activities don't count steps such as cycling, skiing or skateboard.  I would like to be able to compete against my friends while doing other activities.  

Moderator edit: Word choice

[poebee]

I wonder why they do not seem to care... stairs are way more challenging and a far more challenging workout, too. 

[NicksGymUK]

Please add challenges for all available stats. Calories, exercise calories, active minutes etc

Make it better for gym ppl not just runners, walkers, and postmen.

[Trueman_ser]

I would love a water challenge to ensure my friends and I are drinking the appropriate amount of water. Whether or not it's a "challenge" maybe more reaching the daily goal just like steps!

[CoolHandLu]

I would love for there to be additional challenges created, but specifically one that focuses on the number of stair climbed.  Get those glutes moving!

[reecemarkowsky]

i would like fitbit to tell me how many steps i need to take over the next hour to be on pace to win my challenge.  thanks!

[Mamalala16]

Would love a water challenge, my friends and I commonly challenge each other to water wars too see who can drink more water in a day it really helps up get enough in. Most people don't drink enough water in a day and just drinking enough water will help weight loss and overall body health. Please add this feature to the app

[Shellberr83]

Please get a stairs/floors climbed challenge!

[SunsetRunner]

+1 for me.  I see this post was started over two years ago.  I wonder if it's on the horizon or not?

[missjlneal]

Yay i voted

[knxsparks]

I would love to see a water challenge either on its own or as part of a 'daily goal' challenge.  Maybe you have not done this as there are some hazards to drinking too much water and people might get carried away. 🙂  If it was part of the daily goal challenge and you didn't get extra points for extra water then it would be safe.

[OutOfBreath]

Please do add a Floors challenge, this is a great idea.

I have been using the challenge feature with friends and was surprised there were so few to choose from and they are all for steps.

[cusackla]

Floor Challenges are an excellent idea!  I would love to see floor challenges added in! Many of us strive to improve and meet our goals in this category. I am an avid backpacker, mountain hiker and remote wilderness explorer.  Setting and achieving floor goals is a big part of my overall health plan as well as my training program for the mountains. I would also add that the descending portion  of climbing (stairs, floors, hills and mountains) works a different set of muscle gropus then can be accomplished on most mechinal devices in a gym.

Please Add Them! J

[Matt.rhodes09]

Yes! Please add stair challenges, active minutes, calories, heart rate zone challenges. This should be easy programming. 

[Ctell]

Basically I am just going to say this because everyone in this forum is saying they want active minute challenges  and not just the steps. Not sure why they haven't done it yet because counting steps is just too basic. You would think fit bit since they are so popular would want to take it to another level.

[jwarkentin]

Since it already estimates your BMR you could compete on extra calories burned in addition to your BMR as a percentage of your BMR. Tracking that percentage instead of the number of calories would make it fair.

You could also compete on active minutes, resting heart rate, minutes spent with your heart rate in an elevated zone, calories consumed as a percentage of BMR, water consumption, hours of sleep and perhaps even VO2 Max.

I wish we could at least choose to share certain stats with certain friends so we could at least easily compete among ourselves outside the app.

[hippochips]

Yes! I really want calorie competitions. People who pace around their office always win challenges.

[JessGetFit]

Can you make an active minute challenge?

[Abrecan]

Could you update the challenges with a few more options instead of just steps. Maybe calories burnt, flights of stairs climbed, minutes spent exercising. 

[mindylee]

I'd love to have challenges where all people are working toward the big goal.  This would be a more collaborative challenge so we are encouraging each other rather than competing against each other.  Psychologically I think this would help me a lot!   It could be in line with the Adventure challenges, but you could add more than one person.

[BellevueVicki]

I would to see more challenges, like water goal reached, active minutes, and hopefully in the future more specific food info, like nutrients (super tracker online has some cool features regarding food intake and which nutrients you may be missing in your diet)

[cthigpen]

Add me to the list. I get crushed by friends who use treadmills at work. Come FitBit...it's not just about steps taken!

[Rich_Laue]

I might be missing something here, but by pacing aro7nd the office your friends will be burning more calories also.

[PureEvil]

Now, I know that I've said this before, but many folks are still of the belief that "I keep losing challenges because my friends walk/run and I do weights (or yoga... or elliptical... or cycling... or whatever) and if they did challenges for caloric burn total, I'd totally win".  And I've responded more than once that challenges with caloric burn are ultimately unfair, but allow me to illustrate with numbers.

My wife and I had opened additional Fitbit accounts in the past (before they added multiple tracker support) and I just logged in to those accounts and was able to get some interesting information.  We're roughly the same age, but different genders, height, and weight.  Without lifting a finger, I burn 1950 calories per day and she burns 1256 calories per day.  Here are the graphs to prove it:

On the average day I do more steps than she does, but there's nothing stopping her from zooming past me if she wants.  That said, even if I were to lie in bed all day, she'd have to burn an additional 694 calories (1950 - 1256) to tie me.

Let's put that in perspective...  My last 55 minute session on the elliptical, I burned 733 calories.  If I were to factor out my BMR, that'd be roughly 650 calories of activity caloric burn.  So in other words, that 55 minute session on the elliptical, is still not enough to overcome the caloric burn deficit of 694 calories.

So unless you have very similar stats (same gender, weight, height, and age) calorie challenges are ultimately unfair.  In this case, I naturally have a 55% advantage, will naturally burn 155% her rate (1950 / 1256).  I know some of you are thinking, "my friend Betsy and I are pretty similar with respect to our stats", but if she were just a little younger (3 years) and just a little heavier (10 lbs), you may be looking at maybe a 10% disadvantage?

...and don't think for a moment that people won't change their stats (like weight) just to win the challenge.  They would.  This is also the reason why steps from manually entered activities don't count in challenges.

Just my 2¢.

[JasonRankin]

Everything you say is accurate but It'd be nice to have the option. I would love to compete with four friends of mine who are all about the same age, gender, height, and weight, but we don't have the option. And to your point of people cheating, people will always cheat but you can't not create the app just in the fear of people cheating. If that's the case and don't be friends with that person. I could easily put my fit bit on my dogs collar and win the step challenge.

There are smarter minds and than us that work there and they could develop a fair way to compete other than steps. Maybe it's comparing the percentage of calories burned above your BMR.

Either way, there are enough comments in this thread and threads like these that they should at least address it. That is if they want to keep their customer base.

Sent from my iPhone

[PureEvil]

@JasonRankin,

I completely understand where you're coming from.  And if the name of the feature was something like "develop 'activity score' and establish challenges for it" then I'd be all for it.

However, I think there are many folks who believe that calorie challenges are precisely what they need when I think that ultimately it'd create a whole lot more frustration than happy customers.

Of course, the moment Fitbit comes up with a more generic activity score, there'll be folks who'll complain "X minutes on elliptical should be way more than Y minutes of yoga", etc.